Belted
Kingfisher, Ceryle alcyon

Adult females, shown above and below, have a slate-blue bar
at the base of the throat and a rufous bar in mid-breast.

The adult male shows no rufous and only the single
slate-blue bar, sometimes as here with a few rufous feather intermixed.

The flying kingfisher shown above and below is identifiable
as a female by the two bars across the breast, and as an immature bird
by the fact that the lower bar has mixed rufous and slate, rather than
pure rufuous. The bird was flying back and forth with two adults,
calling constantly; presumably it was begging for continued feeding
from its parents. Birds of North America Online reports that
kingfishers normally feed their young birds for about three weeks after
they fledge; this interaction, in November, was probably well past that
time.

Above, another immature female, with the lower breast-bar
incomplete. Immature birds, seen here and in the two
flight pictures, lack the full crest shown by adults, below and in the
top three pictures.